Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of computer systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for an automated online video conferencing timeline
Description of the Related Art
“Web conferencing” or “virtual conferencing” refers to various forms of online collaborative services including web seminars, webcasts, and peer-level web meetings. Web conferencing systems today support real-time audio and video streaming between participants, typically under the coordination of a central web conferencing server. Applications for web conferencing include online classrooms, meetings, training sessions, lectures, and seminars, to name a few.
In some virtual conferencing systems, the meeting organizer or moderator is provided with control over the current state of the virtual conferencing system via a graphical control panel. For example, to initiate a debate between multiple students in a virtual classroom, the instructor uses the control panel to manually rearrange the graphical user interface to include two or more speaker positions and identifies the students to participate in the debate. Similarly, to subdivide the class into breakout groups, the instructor uses the control panel to manually specify the size of the breakout groups, identify the students in each group, and provide the necessary materials for each group to use during the breakout session. When the breakout period is over, the instructor again uses the control panel to rearrange the graphical user interface to review the results of each breakout group. As another example, when a poll is to be conducted, the instructor uses the control panel to initiate the poll, which may involve additional modifications to the graphical user interface.
Requiring the instructor (or other moderator) to manually perform all of the above operations during the course of a class (or other virtual conference) can be distracting and time consuming. Consequently, what is needed is a system and method to automatically implement control functions during the course of a video conference.